Nico Rosberg has topped the timesheets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen in the second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The German recovered from his poor FP1 where he crashed into the barriers at Turn 12, and registered a time of 1:44.152 mid-way through the session on the ultra-soft tyres which demoted Raikkonen from the top of the leader board by over two-tenths of a second.

Red Bull Racing enjoyed a comfortable session as Daniel Ricciardo finished behind team mate Verstappen by only two one-hundredths of a second, as Sebastian Vettel was a further half a second behind in fifth position.

Nico Hulkenberg was the best placed Force India in sixth as he finished a second off Rosberg’s benchmark, while Lewis Hamilton struggled to register a clean lap on the ultra-soft tyres and finished down the order in seventh.

The championship leader led the field early before switching to concentrate on race simulation, before running into problems with 30 minutes left in the session.

Mercedes confirmed that Hamilton had a small hydraulic issue which sidelined the Briton for the remainder of the session. The gremlins weren’t exclusive to Hamilton’s car either, Rosberg reported “terminal brake problems” while sitting in the pits near the end of the session.

Carlos Sainz finished ahead of fellow countryman Fernando Alonso in eighth with Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10 for Toro Rosso.

Romain Grosjean’s session was ended early when he spun on the final corner and hit the rear of the Haas in the barriers. This meant the Frenchman failed to complete a qualifying simulation run.

McLaren again ran into trouble although this time it was Alonso, as the Spaniard pulled over at once practice had ended with what seemed to be an electrical issue.